It won't be hard to get an Air with more storage. Part of getting it was the availability and not wanting a compromise. I probably need 2 TB vs 1 or different main desk storage strategy to make this a do it all system.Ĭonclusions: There's no doubt this is the right laptop for a creative pro, but sitting on a conference room table with 6 great portables and software compatibility shows it's a lot of money limited by software compatibility. After a few days of use the $850 over an Air makes waiting for next gen iMac and getting an Air compelling.

The thought was this Pro would be in between or could do both. For about 4 years I very much enjoyed a higher spec iMac and lighter weight laptop.

Reservations: The state of virtualization, M1 native, price, weight and bulk put it in the diminishing returns as you spend category. It's a lot of money but the display is great when your job is too many hours looking at screens. The audio playback is lovely but my work spaces and places mean Teams calls more than Rolling Stones in Dolby Atmos. I'm an infrastructure manager - F keys forever. Use: Goodbye and good riddance to the Touch Bar.

The good sound is elevated to awesome if you listen to something with Dolby Atmos. Setting the Air, new Pro, Intel MacBook and 2 Surface models to defaults, the Pro screen is extremely pleasant or easy on the eyes. I'm spoiled by a 12' MacBook and just the way I move between sites and within buildings makes returning the Pro for an Air compelling.ĭisplay & Sound: These are reasons for it to be a keeper. Weight & bulk: The new Surface 4 laptop next to it is lighter and less bulky in 13.5 screen size and the 15' Surface laptops our accounting staff uses weigh a bit less. This far into M chips, I expected some other software to be native by now. After that has been instances when Safari on M1 was flaky with Microsoft 365 but not my Intel MacBook. Parallels marketing gives the impression you have Windows compatibility but that's taking you to Windows Insider and ARM so it limits what a lot of professionals in IT, engineering and business have done - able to run Intel type Windows software.

One frustration is not entirely Apple's fault but important for business. Speed and battery life are fantastic as I guessed they would be. Here are some observations and reservations. With that I've been able to compare with other recent models. It worked out that my 14 inch Pro arrived and got set up same time as a new Air and Surface Laptop 4.

Macbook pro late 2011 ssd compatibility